Surprises Galore At The Dota 2 Manila Major 2016 This Week In Esports Betting

The Dota 2 2016 Manila Major is in its second week now and as the teams battle it out through the knockout stage to decide which two will compete in the Grand Final, let’s take a little time to reflect on some shock results in the tournament thus far which have really put the cat amongst the pigeons.

In the Group stage, the eight teams making it through to the Upper Bracket were divided into the group winners (Newbee, Natus Vincere, Team Liquid and LGD Gaming) and the teams that finished second in the table (OG, Digital Chaos, Fnatic and MVP Phoenix). The top seeded group winner faced a supposedly weaker Group Runner up in Round 1 of the Upper Bracket.

That is where the shocks started to happen as of the four matches, three were won by the supposedly weaker side. MVP Phoenix defeated Team Liquid 2-0, OG defeated Natus Vincere by the same scoreline and Fnatic saw off LGD Gaming 2-1. Only Newbee of the group winners progressed with a 2-1 win over Digital Chaos.

That sets up an intriguing Upper Bracket Round 2 which sees MVP Phoenix take on OG and Newbee face off against Fnatic. OG are the 1/2 favourites with the esports betting odds makers to win their clash with MVP Phoenix (6/4), while Newbee, as yet unbeaten in the competition, are 2/5 to beat Fnatic (7/4) in their match up.

Those two clashes take place around teatime UK time on Thursday 9th June with the Upper Bracket Final taking place on Saturday 11th June and the winner of that clash going into the Grand Final for the Best of Five clash on Sunday 12th June.

The second team in that Grand Final will come from the Losers Bracket and that started with the 3rd and 4th ranked teams from each group clashing in the Best Of One Lower Bracket Round One.

The four teams that made it through this sudden death game were compLexity, Alliance, Vici Games Reborn and Team Empire who eliminated Wings Gaming, Mineski, Evil Geniuses and Team Secret from the competition respectively.

In Round 2, the four losing teams from Round 1 of the Winners Bracket dropped down into the Losers Bracket and battled the winners of the Lower Bracket Round 1. These matches are being concluded as I write but so far there has already been one surprise result.

Team Liquid and Natus Vincere did, as expected, progress against their Lower Bracket opponents, Team Liquid beating compLexity 2-0 and Natus Vincere defeating Alliance 2-1, but in the third game Vici Gaming Reborn produced a shock when they defeated Digital Chaos 2-1 to move into Round 3. At the time of writing LGD Gaming lead Team Empire 1-0 in their match up and look likely to claim that fourth and final spot in Round 3.

The four qualifiers will face off in Round 3 and then the two winners of that will play the two losers from the Upper Bracket Round 2 matches. These two winners will then play off, with the winner progressing to take on the loser of the Upper Bracket final and then the winner of this final clash will progress into the Grand Final.

There are a huge number of markets available to bet on at Bet365 esports betting service for this tournament including extensive match betting, map winners, correct map score and many more.

CS:GO goes prime time with ELEAGUE proving a cable TV hit

In another first for esports gaming, American cable network TBS acquired the rights to broadcast live action of the Counter Strike: Global OffensiveELEAGUE Season 1, with live games being shown at prime time on Friday night each week of the competition.

This is an exciting development for eSports as it is another area of the entertainment sphere that the sport is slowly making its presence felt. That has given the $1,400,000 ELEAGUE Season 1 tournament an added edge and the first three weeks of action have been hugely exciting.

Twenty-four of the best teams in the world will gather in Atlanta across this two-month long tournament which starts with a group stage, where four teams will battle it out across six groups for a place in the playoffs.

Each match is a best of two match up, which means that matches can finish in a draw and there is a point available for each game in the match (so if a team wins both games in their match, they win the match 2-0 and gain two points).

After the group games have been played, the teams then enter the Group Playoffs, where the winner of the group faces the bottom team and 2nd takes on 3rd in a Best of Three elimination. The winners of these Group Semi Finals then clash in the Final to decide the Group Winner.

Each Group Winner advances to the final playoffs, while the losing finalist at the group stage heads into a Last Chance qualifier against other group runners up, plus the best two third place teams in the group stages, to decide which two teams will head into the playoffs. They will join the six group stage winners in the single elimination playoffs.

In the first two weeks of action, Lumonisity Gaming from Group A and Ninja’s in Pyjamas from Group B claimed their spot in the playoffs, while G2 Esports (B) and Cloud9 (A) qualified for the Last Chance qualifier.

Over the coming weeks, there will be plenty of esports betting action on this tournament at Bet365 Sport given that there are four more groups to be played to a conclusion. Group C is already at the Semi Final stage of with Astralis taking on NRG eSports and SK Gaming facing Counter Logic Gaming.

Over the next few weeks, Groups D, E and F will also be played to completion before the Last Chance qualifying round takes place when the six qualifiers, plus the two best third placed teams in the competition are known.

With $390,000 up for grabs for the winning team, this is a tournament that offers a lot more cash to be won than the usual CS:GO events, which is why it has attracted the cream of CS:GO teams to try and win their share of a large prize pool.Surprises Galore At The Dota 2 Manila Major 2016 This Week In Esports Betting

You can bet on the winners of the remaining groups, or match winners, plus a host of other betting markets on individual matches at Bet365 Sport over the coming weeks. Other esports bookmakers may also have CSGO gambling markets, though most will likely be more limited than the offering at Bet365.

A lifelong poker fan, Ian is also well-versed in the world of sports betting, casino gaming, and has written extensively on the online gambling industry. Based in the UK, Ian brings fresh insight into all facets of gaming.